Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There *might* be a slight disconnect between the original tale and the English translation. At least, this is what I am led to understand.

What I love:

The premise. Reading with special imagination can either pull characters out of your favorite book or put you inside it. And compared to the first book, the second doesn't feel quite so lopsided and the plot and character development feel a lot more organic -- growing, even. I really got into the adventure within Inkheart and felt for many of the characters. The emotionally hard parts had some great pathos.

The meh:

Parts of the tale felt too long. It might be a wonderfully long, detailed book for some people who get the full immersion right, but in English, there were certain long passages that were ... not precisely interesting.

Overall, however, this isn't a book that I disliked. Indeed, the premise and many of the characters kept the tale hopping and I only occasionally compared it to other Young Adult novels. (Shared plots, character types, etc.) This one diverged quite nicely in comparison, but I couldn't help but compare Inkspell to Funke's Mirrorworld series. The two series share an awful lot in common, and not for the obvious reasons.

Still enjoying it, however, and will be picking up the third right away.

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